Danganronpa: Gold House (CLOSED SYOC)

by CandleFire45

The manor lies at the edge of the forest, allowing teeters of black pines to grind against its wall like sandpaper. Accompanied by the howling winds of thundering snow, the darkness is defending, the shining layers consuming all in its wake. But darkness cannot last forever, and in the midst of the chaos, a glint of shimmering gold and glowing blood can be seen.

6. The Owner's Game Pt 1 (Prologue 5)

{Author's Note} Sorry for the shorter author's note, I'd like to thank my friends RAY AND SEMPI AHHHHHH for beta reading this for me. This chapter was way more of a train wreck before they came in. But it should all be readable now... even if it's so damn long HELP-

Anyways, please enjoy and explanation down at the end of all this!

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Scarlet Passage Of Time

Prologue 5

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"Let's play a game, you and me."

"Don't worry, it'll be fun."

"The rules are very simple."

"And the rewards… life-changing…"

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The Game

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Prince's mind was shrouded in an impenetrable fog. It encompassed his tired eyes, withering the surface of his consciousness and leaving nothing but darkness in its wake.

The most surprising part to him was that there was no pain there. No feeling. No worries. Nothing at all but silence, the kind that echoed complete isolation. It bore into his ears and made him want to scream. To call out for anyone to save him. But he couldn't. His mouth was snapped shut, and that helpless, horrific feeling slowly ate away at him, leaving him with vague memories of swords clashing, and sudden shouts following after. He couldn't recall it well, but the memory beckoned for his soul to wake as an intense light filled the abyss.

"G-Gah- what in the-!?" He choked out, being greeted by an icy chill wrapping around his stiff limbs. It slowly seemed to dig into his skin, forcing a dull ache to crawl over his body, 'Ugh… my throat is killing me, and this light- It's so bright that I think I'll go blind if I stare at it any longer…' Despite his attempts to block it, it proved futile as the light slipped between his fingers.

But that wasn't the only thing he was greeted with. His heart skipped a bit as he realized standing above him with wide crimson eyes, was none other than Machi Amemori, whose expression had morphed into shock as she descended before him, "Prince? Oh my gosh-! Prince, are you awake?! Ah- um… blink twice if you can hear me!" He barely could keep up to pace with her as she briskly stood up and muttered calmly to herself, "wait no- ah- never mind, just relax, for now, I'll go fetch Kanon!"

"M-Machi- w-wait!" Her name flew out of his mouth in a similar manner of shock, but was quickly replaced by relieved laughter the second he noticed she was unharmed."I-I'm okay-! I'm okay! See?! No need to w-worry!" He frantically reassured although that was very much a lie. He couldn't have been in more pain, but he was desperate not to lose sight of another familiar face.

Thankfully, Machi seemed to sense this and stopped in her tracks, quickly turning around and holding his hands soothingly, "really? That's a relief! It's just you were out of it for so long that I wasn't sure but… aha~ I'm just glad you're okay! It's good to see you again!" And without a second to even catch her breath, her warm arms earnestly wrapped around Prince's cold shoulders, evaporating the pain in his chest as the infectious laughter of his friend filled the air.

"I-It's so good to see you as well Machi…" Prince returned the hug in full, allowing for a brief moment to feel calm and secure as the full weight of the situation drifted around them. "S-Seriously… I really thought that something might've h-happened after what I saw… a-and-" He couldn't speak any more. Even remembering the deadly glare from that samurai was too much for his mind to comprehend.

"Hey, hey! It's okay Prince, we're all safe now, see!?" Machi comfortably smiled once again, her look softening as she helped him safely to his feet, "more importantly though, how are you feeling? A little shell shocked? Maybe a little queasy-?" They both laughed at the comment "-kidding, kidding, but seriously… are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, I-I'm fine… just a little shaken up." Though he had to take a slight step back to steady himself as questions filled his mind. "I-I'm just a little confused on what's going on… w-where exactly are we? A-And where is everyone else?" The last thing he could remember after all was being knocked out by that samurai after Lukas stood up against him, so why… instead of waking up to Lukas or Amaya, he was seeing Machi?

And why now… did he only just realize he was not even in the same room he was previously in?

As his eyes adjusted to the light around him, he found himself within the confines of the foyer once again. The room glimmered brightly amidst a red-painted light of the dwindling sun just outside, its celestial pillars and spacious stairs casting shadows along the floor which revealed… Everyone else silently stared at him in disbelief.

"Ah- well it looks like you found them before I could say anything!" Machi attempted to joke, although this time it didn't quite land. She quickly noticed this and nervously chuckled in an attempt to break the awkward silence. "Sorry about not mentioning the little welcome committee waiting for you. That nugget completely slipped my mind once you woke up… hehe…"

"D-Don't worry… you're good…" Prince reassured, although he couldn't tell if he saying that for Machi's sake or his own. He didn't have time to debate on that matter though, as he nervously waved at everyone around him, "um… h-hey guys… long t-time no see…"

"So you're finally awake…" Kanon Kanda was the first to break the silence and approached with a clearly annoyed expression, "after getting yourself knocked out, I didn't anticipate for you to be… you know… walking around without a care in the world so soon."

"Well, it's certainly a refreshing sight to witness after what we've seen so far," Junichiro Ichida, or mostly perrfered to as Jun, stood beside the doctor with a dashing grin ripped straight out of a photoshoot magazine. He spoke with a relieved tone to his voice, slightly calming Prince down as he allowed himself to breathe, "it's good to see you awake Prince. We were all getting a little antsy over your condition, but it appears like you're no worse for wear!"

"And what of the rest of us? He barely looks like he's found anything useful," Xiuying Akatsuki spat out harshly, her voice rising like thunder in a crack of irritation as she led the charge of questions against the group, "I can't believe that none of you found anything of importance before you were dragged in here. Is it simply too much to ask for at least one of you mindless morons to know anything?"

"You sure do talk big for someone who was entirely useless during our search, care to explain what the hell you were doing the entire time?" Albion Kanzaki sneered with a sharp voice, pressing the fabric maker for an answer, "none of us are your lapdogs, if you wanted to figure out anything, you should've looked around yourself."

The two continued to bicker amongst themselves, allowing Koji Yabusaki to take their spots without much effort as he hesitantly looked Prince's way with a stoney stare, "looks like you're finally awake Prince. Must be… a little confusing to have to wake up to something like this… must be a nightmare within a nightmare honestly," he muttered, averting his gaze only slightly, "what a mess this is turning out to be… such a mess."

At first, Prince thought the comment was directed at him, however it seemed like the Undertaker was somewhat distracted by some other matter entirely, as his posture was tense and rigid. Luna Phillips however seemed completely calm in the face of such chaos around her, as she instead held out her sickly thin arms in praying motion next to Koji, "it might be a mess momentarily… but for Prince to return to the waking world, it is a sign of good fortune to come for everyone," the cult leader mumbled, as she raised her eyes to toward the sky, "yes… eventually everything… will come above the surface for us to realize…"

He couldn't really dissect any of the strange sayings Luna was spewing, which to be fair seemed to fit her style completely as she continued praying. But as he followed the motion of her doing so, his eye suddenly caught onto Kamiya Uta's, or just Uta's stern expression further away from the group. The swordsman, perhaps sensing this, momentarily glanced in Prince's way, but said nothing in response. It looked like he was on alert from something, similar to Koji in a sense, but gave the time to acknowledge Prince's recovery.

Similar to the swordsman, Anata Noshi and Hania Shaw were standing further away from the group, acting as passive observers to the whole situation. They didn't approach him, but their eyes locked briefly causing Hania's darkish brown eyes to look worriedly away. Anata's disorienting red and blue pupils however fixed onto his gaze, seemingly focused on his condition with a surprising amount of care.

'So it really does seem like everyone is a-actually safe…' Prince let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and collected himself once more, 'it's good that they're all okay… but there's still some people missing…' And he already had a hunch on who the last batch could be.

For starters, there was no taunting Amelie or rampaging Hagoromo present in the room, and even Stefano didn't seem anywhere in sight to witness their antics. And that wasn't even counting on Amaya, Lukas, Kanna, Fudo, Aimi, and Tadatake, who he still couldn't see anywhere. His throat tightened just thinking about them. But he had to for the last thing he could recall was seeing Lukas in the middle of his fight with that strange samurai. Had Lukas somehow faced him off all by himself? And if he had, where was he now? And Amaya and Fudo as well? Aimi, Kanna, Tadatake... all of them. Were they okay?

"Hey, are you still with us?" He was forced to stow the question aside as Kanon suddenly spoke up, her eyes transforming into a calculated look, "don't zone out now on us Prince, that could be a serious indication you have a bit of internal brain damage after all."

"H-Huh?! Internal brain d-damage?!" Prince shot his hands up in a panic, "n-no don't worry, I'm paying attention! And I feel like I'm okay… at least… I t-think so…"

"Hm, well you do have a bunch of bruises," Machi pointed out as she tapped the tip of her chin, "but those should surely heal up with enough time! Although just to be safe… we should probably let Kanon evaluate your condition, yeah?"

"To be honest, there isn't much for me to evaluate," Kanon confessed, though she looked a little bewildered as she said that, "I don't have any of my usual equipment with me, but from what I can tell you haven't suffered any fractures or accumulated any deep wounds, so no broken bones essentially."

Jun and Machi breathed out in relief at the news, with Prince right along with them. Even though he had been downplaying his injuries quite a bit, he was definitely thankful that he wasn't as hurt as he was led to believe initially.

"Although-" The trio stopped at once as Kanon spoke "-I'd suggest keeping it easy on yourself for a little while, at least until I can check up on you again with proper tools. You were unconscious for a concerningly long period time after all, so no more jumping into stupid fights, got that? It'd be bad enough if we have to deal with a corpse around here for whatever reason." She shot a look at Koji, who seemingly ignored her.

"Trust me, I wouldn't dream o-of doing of that after what happened…" he reassured her, however, he was briefly hesitant to do so. Not because of any malicious intent, but more so due to his initial confusion over what she was implying, "w-wait… Kanon… how did you know I got knocked out from a fight? I hadn't even said anything about that yet..."

"It's because we saw you dragged here firsthand by the person who did it," Uta suddenly explained, his face slightly growing darker against the setting sun, "we know about that fight you had with that samurai, and we figure that was actually the Enforcer mentioned in the letter before. He was most likely attempting to bring you to the foyer, but it seems like things didn't work out so smoothly."

"Y-You guys know about that-? And w-wait, does that mean you met up with him?" Prince almost couldn't believe what he was hearing, "a-are you guys okay? Did he attack you too!?"

"No, no! He didn't attack us, per say-!" Machi quickly clarified, "he just threatened to drag us by force if we didn't cooperate. So of course we walked over here by ourselves because… well we didn't want to have what happened to you happen to us. But still, to be that aggressive and hurt you… it was just completely unnecessary!" Her positive expression faltered then as she crossed her arms tightly.

"N-No… it wasn't like that," Prince rubbed his arm nervously and sighed, "I-I was in the middle of a fight… a-and didn't move out of the way quick enough. That's how I got hurt. It's all my fault."

"No, it was my fault, Sir Prince." His breath froze mid exhale upon hearing his voice, "you were just a bystander caught in the crossfire. I understand full and well I'm the reason we're in this predicament. I… I promise you, I won't let it happen again."

"Lukas…?" His name dropped out of his mouth, as sure enough, standing before him face to face none other than the Grand Knight himself, Lukas Griffon Powell. He had suddenly appeared within the group before his very eyes, stepping cautiously forward toward Prince, as if afraid he could accidentally hurt him.

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry upon seeing he was okay. After all, the last he'd seen of him, he was fighting a man three times his size. And yet he stood there completely unfazed, with only a few scratches on his armor giving any indication he had been in a fight at all. And even with that knowledge, he was seemingly more worried for Prince than for himself. "L-Lukas… how… w-where did you-"

"MISTER PRIIIINNNNNCEEEE-!" Before he could finish, a small figure violently rammed into Prince's arms, removing all the breath in his already tired body. Just as he recovered from the initial shock, the bright lemon eyes of Fudo Tsukuyomi completely took over his view, "you're finally, FINALLY awake! I just knew you'd be fine but everyone was talking about it and- Minnie was getting a little nervous so- just don't ever scare us like that again, okay?" He pleaded, his voice cracking slightly as his hug tightened around Prince.

"O-Oh! You're alright, Prince!" The sweet voice of Aimi Sakai broke past Fudo's words as she approached with a bright smile, "I'm so happy to see you're okay! Everyone was so worried about you!" She sighed deeply and rubbed the side of her arm. "I usually would have a small treat made especially for moments like this… b-but I didn't have any time to prepare anything before y-you woke up…"

"Hey now shortcake, you don't need to sweat about that kinda stuff!" The quiet affair was effectively cut off by none other than Tadatake Suza, whose proud laugh earned a couple of head turns in their direction. "The little man's back in action after all! And look at that, he's got his very first battle scars to show for it too!"

"B-Battle scars? I-Is he even more hurt than we thought t-then?!" Fujisaki Kanna came upon the scene with a panicked look and reached out to check Prince's condition, only to find some bruises over his arm, "a-ah… wait… it's fine!" He nervously laughed off, "f-false alarm… it's just some minor bruising… a-although if it starts to hurt at a-any point Prince… please notify me as soon as possible-!"

"Ah-! Brother and Sisters, please you must be gentle now!" And last but certainly not least, Amaya Shirai swiftly entered in between the group and gently pulled Prince aside with a somewhat troubled expression, "I understand all of your excitement in seeing Brother Prince's safe and sound. I as well am more than elated to see him as well, but he has only just awoken for us. Until he has fully recovered, we mustn't tackle him without warning, okay?"

"E-Everyone… y-you're all…" Prince spoke without a thought, complete shock overtaking him in an instant as he rushed into the group for a hug. He ended up in Amaya's arms and laughed, "you're okay! You're all actually okay!" A rush of emotion instantly leaped into his mind, erupting to first relief, then confusion, to almost slight awe at the sight that not only Lukas, but everyone was alive and well.

Kanon didn't look at all pleased though, only shaking her head in disappointment, "wow, okay just… completely clamor around an injured person, that's definitely smart," She grumbled.

"But everyone's back together at least-!" Machi sweetly cheered as she clapped in excitement, "well at least almost everyone… we're still missing three people sadly."

"I… almost f-forgot…" Prince's thoughts shifted upon hearing Machi's words, quickly turning to Hagoromo, Amelie, and Stefano. Despite the touching reunion, he couldn't help but worry over where they were now. That same thought consequently picked his curiosity over how the entire group had escaped the samurai in the first place. "What in the w-world happened to you guys back there?!" He breezily asked, "were any of you h-hurt at all?"

To Prince's relief, Amaya shook her head and shifted her doll to touch her delicate pearl necklace, "thankfully, all of us were unharmed. We managed to evacuate safely to the foyer, and took shelter alongside everyone who had arrived earlier…"

"It was crazy, you wouldn't believe how insane it got-!" Fudo exclaimed as he clapped cheerfully, "there were punches flying and everyone was screaming-! Ah- aside from me and Minnie of course…" He quickly added, "but yeah- Mister Take had to carry you and it was a whole thing! We weren't even sure if you were gonna make it-!

"But you took that hit like a champ little dude!" Tadatake grinned and slapped Prince on the back, "seriously talk about badass, you only got a few bruises from the whole thing! After that little scuffle, I'm sure the ladies will be lining up at your door~!"

"Thankfully… it looks like y-you're recovering j-just fine!" Kanna added nervously, attempting to lightly gloss over the hockey player's last comment "I think with enough t-time… you'll be as right as rain again! At least that's what I believe!"

"Yeah, h-hopefully soon I will be soon," Prince wearily sighed, trying to ignore the dull pain growing around his body now, "everything kinda feels sore… but Kanon said I should be fine for the most part. I just have to keep myself in check."

"Brother Prince, it is such a joy to finally see you at ease!" Amaya brightly exclaimed, a warm smile returning to her expression as she welcomed Prince into a soft hug, "to be truthful, we were all greatly worried over your condition before, but to see you recover this quickly must mean the natural deities are watching over you! Thank Mother Chiyu for such divine healing! This blessing won't go unappreciated!"

"Wow- that makes total sense, let's thank the sky gods, instead of the literal doctor who made sure they were okay," Kanon rolled her eyes then before turning her back.

"Now Kanon, let's try and keep things civil!" Machi stepped in and lightly laughed, showing no hint of noticing the doctor's rather sour mood, "Amaya was just thankful to see Prince okay, and was showing that thanks in her own beautiful way," The mediator beamed, "in the end, we're all obviously very grateful for your help!"

"But of course! I apologize if my comment came off in such a careless way," Amaya quickly reassured, stepping up to the doctor with a bright look on her face, "I in no way intended to diminish your great work Sister Kanon! You truly have my gratitude for healing our fellow Brothers!"

"Well… obviously… yeah we're grateful, " Fudo mumbled, staring defiantly at the doctor with Minnie by his side, "but you could stand to be a little less standoffish and rude Miss Kanon- or I might refer to you as doctor mophead from now on~"

"Mophead?" Jun repeated, attempting to hold in a small grin, "now Fudo, that's a tad bit to-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll finish your existence," Kanon warned.

"Aha-! Wait-! I was going to defend you though-!" Jun laughed in that sort of playful way that caused the rest of the group to smile, "seriously though, it's impressive you were able to identify Prince's condition that quickly, even without your usual equipment! You really do have a good eye there Kanon."

Kanon's glare softened into an indifferent look, and instead of scoffing at the comment, she simply averted her gaze and said, "whatever, it's fine, at least you actually have some sense over the real important people here, but don't shower me with empty praise or anything like that. I was just doing my job." She seemed completely neutral over the matter, but for some reason, Prince could've sworn he saw a pinch of red on her face.

Seeing this, Prince smiled and reassured her further, "well I'm still happy y-you checked up on me. I have to wonder though…what about you Lukas? Are you o-okay?" He turned to the knight expectedly, and looked at his armor, "it… it looks like you g-got hurt way more than I did…"

"Do not worry about me, I'm used to my body withstanding that kind of treatment, and only my armor was damaged in the confrontation," Lukas explained, averting his gaze briefly to the ground, "but Sir Prince… for you to get hurt like that, I didn't- No… I wasn't able to keep any of you safe like I said I would."

"L-Lukas… g-give yourself more credit, you did everything you could then!" Aimi pointed out in an attempt to comfort the knight, "more of us would've gotten harmed if y-you didn't step in, and even if you l-lost, you still protected us! So… please don't be sad, I-I think you did a pretty job!"

The knight looked over the patissier and nodded in assurance, "thank you Aimi, but unfortunately, it doesn't change the fact that I got us trapped here."

"So y-you really lost the fight?" Prince nervously asked, turning his attention back to the knight, "but… you're the Grand Knight-! H-How did you lose…?" Even saying it out loud sounded impossible to him. Lukas held such an aura of power and authority, for him to lose against that thing must have meant it held unparalleled strength in comparison.

"I… I'm not sure… at first, it looked as if I was gaining the upper hand… and then…" The knight breathed in deeply and spoke his next few words in a determined tone, "the outcome of that fight doesn't matter to me. It's important that I don't let you down again. No matter what it takes, I must work harder to protect you all." There was a grim look as he spoke, solidifying the words deep into the minds of everyone else around.

"Does that mean you're going to attempt to fight that thing again?" Suddenly, from behind the group Albion spoke up, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Similarly, it looked like Uta was watching over the conversation as well with a careful eye, awaiting for an answer.

"Please, perish such a thought!" Amaya urged, turning her attention on the two in a flash, "if he is fated to go up against such a threat again, he would surely face serious injury-! We must not allow such a thing…" She stated, boldly cementing her thoughts on such a matter, "he must be well cared for as he recovers. Until then, I wish to see no funny business of that nature."

"Relax, I'm not saying he should do something that stupid again or anything like that," Albion uttered, which admittedly did bring the whole group at ease, "it was just what he said now, it really did sound like he was planning to pull that kinda crap."

"You say that as if he would w-willingly plan s-such a thing… but h-he would never d-do that, right?" Aimi perked up, her worry clearly painted across her face for all to see.

The knight was silent for a few moments, as if contemplating in his mind before saying, "of course, I won't charge against that samurai foolishly. Unless he somehow makes it absolutely necessary or threatens one of you, I won't fight him. I only meant that I would work harder to guarantee your safety in the future. So please, leave it all to me from now on."

"While it's good to have a set in stone outlook, I don't think it's exactly right to put too much pressure on yourself over all this," Machi encouraged, "I mean… we still don't quite know who we're dealing with at the end of the day… so instead of going it alone, I think we should be extremely careful and just work together from now on!"

"Y-Yes, Machi is right!" Kanna nodded in agreement and gripped onto the knight's hand, "if you're absolutely forced t-to carry any m-more burdens, please don't be afraid to c-come ask me for help You've already done e-enough trying to protect us from that… s-samurai! I will attempt to help no matter t-the request!"

"I couldn't have said it any better myself dudes!" Tadatake pumped his fist into the air and nodded confidently, "I'm not just gonna let some fat ass samurai screw us over like that again! The next time something like that happens… we're facing it together, you got that Lukas?! And we're taking it down properly this time!" The hockey player grinned, seemingly excited over the potential outcome.

"Like that's going to do anything substantial," Albion wrote off, taking a brief glance in Lukas's direction, "listen, you're smarter than you look, but that armor's gonna get you killed." He tapped the tip of the damaged metal and smirked, "if you ever need that thing restored… come to me, I'll handle it for you then."

Lukas was silent for a moment, either pleasantly surprised, or overwhelmed by the sudden comradery and support he was getting. Prince wanted to believe it was both of those feelings, at least so he knew for sure that he wasn't alone in such a daunting task.

"I… I see then…" Lukas replied slowly, faintly nodding at everyone's responses, "in cases such as this, I'll… ask for your aid if necessary. But again… please don't be afraid to ask me for any request as well. I still will carry out any task to the best of my ability in the future…"

"Please don't w-worry about all that," Prince lightly laughed, "it's… it's enough to see y-you here and safe." And he really did mean that. Seeing not only Lukas but all of them as lively as ever was enough for all worry to leave his mind, at least for the most part.

"Are you all done with your little mushy feel-good act yet?" Xiuying sneered from behind them all, bringing the group back into reality, "because there's still the problem with us being trapped in this place! Or have you already forgotten?" She stood near one of the archways with an annoyed glare, effectively ending the small moment.

"Ah- that's right… there weren't any exits we could find in our investigation…" Machi spoke with a frown, "it's so strange how this is supposed to be a huge manor… but there's not one door that leads outta here. And the front door itself is just… *poof!*… gone!"

"Guys the answer is obvious…" Tadatake said with a wide smirk, "if there are no doors leading outta here, we just gotta smash a window open and make our escape that way!"

"T-That's a clear demonstration of d-destroying property though…" Kanna meekly spoke out as he tugged at his skirt, clearly distressed by the idea.

"Tadatake, to suggest such an idea is simply straying too far from the path of the natural deities," Amaya firmly spoke, crossing her arms softly as she lowered her voice a tiny bit, "the situation may be dire, but this is still someone else's home we're present in and someone could get hurt from the shattered glass. I think it is far too risky to rush into an idea like that."

"I knew, I know… it's not exactly the best option… but if these people kidnapped us or something, we shouldn't be held back by small things like whose property this is! We need to focus on getting outta this place!" Tadatake confidently reassured, although Prince felt he didn't exactly know the full weight of what he was proposing at the moment.

"So you're prepared to venture out into the storm outside?" Uta questioned suddenly.

"H-Huh, what did you just say dude?" Tadatake asked, standing up tall to meet face to face with the swordsman

"You're hopeless if you haven't figured out the main issue with that plan." Uta turned around, but kept his gaze concentrated on the hockey player, "we're left completely unknown to our location… and you are proposing we should wander aimlessly in the deadly storm for rescue. You'll be disappointed to find that we'll all freeze to death within a matter of seconds, and that's not even mentioning half of you don't even look dressed for such an attempt."

This time, Tadatake didn't have a rebuttal to such a comment, and Prince himself couldn't help but agree with Uta's statement. Some of the group did appear equipped to deal with slightly cold weather, such as Luna with her long robes or Koji with his tight fitted coat, but he knew it would do nothing in face of the winterish hell raging on outside, and it didn't seem like it was stopping anytime soon despite the setting sun.

"So we can't even go anywhere even if we got out?" Fudo groaned with a similarly fatigued Minnie laying tiredly on his hat, "jeez, well this kinda stinks. What are we supposed to do then in the meantime? Just lay around and do nothing?"

"M-Maybe we should just search the entire m-manor again," Prince suggested as he made his way to the archways, "it's possible we missed something important since we were being followed by t-that samurai." But to his shock, as soon as he stepped up to one of them, he quickly noticed something was off.

Unlike before, there was a faint shimmer of light reflecting in the archway. It was transparent enough to where he could physically see the hallways of the manor ahead of him, but when his fingers reached out, they pressed against something solid, as if there was a wall of light blocking his path. Furthermore, there seemed to be another floating triquetra in the middle of the field, possibly being the reason the barrier in front of him existed in the first place.

"What… w-what is this?" His hands pressed against the surface, but no matter how hard he pushed the field stood strong, locking him in the foyer with everyone else, "w-why can't I go past it?"

"We're not… quite sure ourselves dear, but it appears to be a barrier of some kind," Amaya answered with a slight frown, "after we arrived, it suddenly formed by the enforcer's hand, and has kept us locked in here ever since."

"Ah- but it does break down whenever that samurai brings anyone in…" Koji explained, turning his attention away from the rest of the group, "before you guys were dragged in here, it was already up and keeping most of us who arrived early trapped… then when the others got near, it let them in…"

"So it opens and closes when a new batch of people enter," Luna slowly finished, her eyes fixed onto the barrier with a subtle familiarity, "how interesting. This field then… keeps us locked within the room, and allows certain individuals a safe passing inside."

"It is quite the curiosity indeed," Amaya agreed as she allowed her doll's hands to touch the surface of the barrier, "it reminds me of the many other peculiar happenings that have transpired around the manor… it's almost as if its existence is tied to the very foundation of this place-" For a moment she paused, carefully studying the barrier with her sky blue eyes as they shimmered with wonder, "I must wonder… if this is a possible hint at the existence of… magic perhaps?"

Everyone went quiet at her suggestion, allowing the possibility to really sink into the group. While it seemed far-fetched, Prince was intrigued by the idea. The things he'd seen firsthand couldn't really be explained by normal means. So was Amaya right then? Were they actually seeing real magic at play here?

"I believe that is to be the case as well Amaya…" Luna slowly agreed, being one of the first to speak up on the possibility as she slouched against her staff, "I've witnessed many signs of otherworldly power in my lifetime… it is a power strong enough to bend mortal minds, and affect reality itself. So what we're witnessing… could be an example of that power."

Aimi brightened up at the word, "so w-wait… it's all actually real?" She spoke excitedly over the idea and turned to Amaya, "you really think i-it actually is a possibility?!"

"Wait, huh? Why are we talking about magic all of a sudden?" Tadatake questioned, his face morphing into utter confusion, "how did this topic even come up?"

"Because the theory might actually wave all our issues away-!" Koji suddenly spoke up, his red eyes shining brightly before he stopped himself and coughed into his arm, "I meant to say- it would certainly explain… some of the things here, so it wouldn't be completely outlandish.I mean… there's no real logical explanation to this place."

"Given what we've seen so far and are seeing now, I do believe that to be the case~!" Amaya brightened up immediately and took hold of her doll with an electric movement, "I have felt in my soul that the very structure of this manor does not adhere to normal rules, and in many instances, we have witnessed mystical sights!"

"Yeah… there has b-been a lot of strange stuff here," Prince agreed softly as he turned his attention to the barrier. He recalled his time when he came across the bizarre Monolith room… or when the key found burned brightly in his hand. He could still feel it present in his pocket right now. "Not to mention… e-even the enforcer… or that samurai I mean… looked k-kinda looks weird, don't you think?"

"No kidding, dude had a skull for a face," Tadatake cringed, "and it was just kinda floating and talking… like all on its own. I've never seen anything like that before."

"So it's gotta be magic, just like Miss Amaya said!" Fudo brightly bounced on the tips of his toes and widely grinned at the idea, "I mean, Minnie and I would know for sure! We can tell the difference between that sorta stuff with other magicians easily! And this barrier reminds me of like- a magic force field or something!"

"Whatever it is, it's something that's keeping us inside the foyer," Jun said with a curious look, "is it possible that it is magic though? I never would've guessed personally." He didn't seem to accept or deny the idea, but it was clear he was interested.

Xiuying however furrowed her dark brows and scoffed in response to the whole idea, "I really am surrounded by children. To even talk about something as pointless as magic when we don't even have an inkling as to who is responsible for this whole mess. Is this really where your priorities lie when there are bigger matters to deal with? Hmph, disgraceful."

"But t-this is an important matter…" Prince attempted to say, "how else c-can we… you know… u-understand what this is unless-"

"There's nothing to understand," Kanon's face soured as shook her head disappointingly, "are you all living in a fantasyland? Magic obviously doesn't exist. If anything, all the weird stuff you've been seeing are most likely props or projections of some kind. Visual stunts that are meant to fool our senses or something. This barrier is just another example of that."

"So uh… what is it? Like a glass wall that popped outta nowhere?" Tadatake asked as he crossed his arms.

"But it kept appearing and disappearing whenever someone new came in," Koji said, earning himself a glare from Kanon, "don't look at me like that-! We all saw it wasn't there before, didn't we? "

"It doesn't matter what you saw." Albion had sat on the steps of the stairs and annoyingly stared at the snow outside. "Maybe magic's real, maybe it's not. Who cares? It doesn't change the fact we're stuck in this dump regardless."

Albion was clearly right. Even if this all was caused by magic, it didn't change anything. Everyone was still trapped, and Prince was no closer to figuring out anything if that was the case.

"So what's the general consensus here guys?" Machi put her hands behind her back and leaned forward by the tip of her white boots, "should we just hold out for now until Grandview comes and rescues us?"

"Hold out?" Tadatake repeated, "we need to bust outta here more like it! The longer we take to escape this place, the worse the situation we'll likely become! Forget smashing a window, we all need to fight back the moment we get the chance!"

"And you propose we do that after the little demonstration that useless knight went through-?" Xiuying asked, tapping the tip of her chin as she stared at Lukas, "we all saw the aftermath of that enforcer's attack first hand. It would be simply foolish to try and attack him unless you have a death wish of some sort. In that case, by all means, take your chances." The knight didn't respond to the fabric maker's comment, but it was clear the statement resonated deeply inside him as he slightly held his gaze down.

"Hey, take that back!" Fudo's demeanor quickly changed into frantic defense as he stood up against the fabric maker, "Mister Lukas isn't useless! He's helped plenty unlike you so far-!" Minnie squeaked something in agreement, sternly nodding.

"But she does have a point," Koji followed up, his face stony as he gestured at the fabric maker, "that… thing… made it very apparent that if any of us try to fight it, we'll be done for." Koji sighed and glared at his feet, fiddling quietly with his earrings, "I just knew something was wrong about this place… but to be stuck in this room! How did it come to this point?"

"U-Um… if I could add my t-thoughts on the matter… m-maybe we can try and cooperate with them t-the next time we see them," Kanna suggested, his small figure emerging in the middle of the group, "that way no… violence… ever n-needs to occur! And then they'll tell us what exactly is going on… hopefully?"

"Oh-! That's not a bad idea at all Kanna!" Machi brightly agreed, "a good sense of unity and cooperation always begins with a dialogue between two separate parties! If we're able to at least catch them in a moment, we could talk them down and figure out why they're doing this!"

"It won't work. Talk is cheap in a warrior's heart after all." Uta shot down the idea with a simple wave of his hand. "From everything I've seen from this… enforcer… it's likely only meant to serve as muscle to the higher forces at play here. Nothing worth conversing with for information."

"Then we take it with the people upstairs themselves!" Machi countered, her determined grin never wavering in face of the swordsman's icy stare, "whoever's behind this could be reasoned with, if we're given the chance of course! All that matters is that we take it once it's there!"

"B-But wait… I-I thought- we all agreed that Grandview was the one behind this. Is that n-not… um… the case anymore?" Aimi nervously asked as she adjusted her chef hat.

"W-We did agree that they could've been… yeah… but maybe…" Prince felt his words fall short as he glanced at Lukas's damaged armor, and his own bruised hands, "i-it's… hard to say for sure. I-I don't think they'd a-attack us like this… r-right?"

"They wouldn't." Everyone turned around to find that Anata had made the statement. She stood quietly afterward, fiddling with her dog tags as she eyed the floor with a hard glare, "Grandview's not responsible for this, I think we're dealing with someone else entirely separate from them."

"Sister Anata, are you aware of the individual responsible for all of this?" Amaya asked hopefully, "then please enlighten us! We have yet to reach a proper conclusion on the matter."

The storyteller studied Amaya briefly before sighing out, "well I mean… I don't have to say much on the topic. We were told right at the very start who's to blame…"

"Wait, really?" Fudo perked up before a sudden realization crossed his face, "oh wait… you must be talking about the letter we got at the start of all this!" Minne grabbed the letter out from his scarf and he held it out for all those to see, "the one from that owner guy, right?"

"That's correct, and given what happened in the encounter with Lukas and Prince… it adds credibility that they're the ones pulling the strings behind the scenes," Luna voiced as she took out her letter as well and looked at it closely, "it did imply heavily that the enforcer would forcibly bring anyone to the foyer, and here we are… just take a look yourself…"

Instinctively everyone followed suit and pulled out their letters from the Owner as well, including Prince who nervously looked at the contents again.

'Luna's correct… t-this letter… it details a lot of the things we've been experiencing so far…' Prince noted how the letter detailed a certain enforcer, and how he would come to track them down, and subtly warned them of potentially angering him as well.

What truly sent a chill down Prince's spine though was that it seemed the owner was aware of all these things, and still let it happen without stepping in.

"This… O-Owner person… it does look like they've set all this up…" Aimi hesitantly agreed, "b-but… who could they be…?"

Fudo scratched his cheek and narrowed his eyes at the letter, "uh- who knows honestly, this could be anyone's property we're standing on… so anyone could be the Owner… but wait- didn't Kanna conclude their name might've been Alexander before we ended up here?"

"I-I only inferred that from what the samurai b-briefly told us…" Kanna clarified, "b-but it was a slip of the tongue o-on the samurai's part… so it might be t-true!"

"Then that's gotta be the name then-!" Tadatake concluded as he shoved his letter away, "come on then, does anyone remember an 'Alexander' in here before they passed out? Eh? Eh? Anybody!?"

No one spoke up in reply, and no matter how hard Prince thought on it, a name of that nature didn't come up for him. It sounded completely normal… maybe a bit too normal…"

"What a shame… it doesn't look like anybody remembers," Amaya regrettably spoke, shaking her doll's head softly as she comforted the hockey player, "although to be fair, I'm positive that's the name of the individual behind this, but… it seems no one has a personal connection to it."

"But w-wait- forgive me for a-speaking out of t-turn… but w-we all can agree we all did pass out, r-right?" Kanna asked, "I mean- p-personally for me… the last thing I r-remember was reading my acceptance letter for G-Grandview… and then waking up here…"

"It was the same for me as well Sir Kanna," Lukas answered quickly, "I received the letter from a scout of the school, but by the time I finished its contents, I had just put it away before feeling a rough sensation overtake my consciousness, and then I blacked out."

"Same here! But for me, I was reading the letter with my Ma and Pa…" Fudo brought up, "all I remember… is that they were both congratulating me about it… but then I felt kinda sleepy and closed my eyes… then I woke up here all of a sudden!"

"I received it after one of my meetings with the Eternal One," Luna confessed, "I rejoined with my cult… who had collected the letter for me during our meeting. I read it aloud then, and suddenly… only darkness remained for me until I awoke here."

"Do you think someone attacked y-you all?" Prince asked, his heart beating faster and faster at the number of similarities in their accounts, "could it have been that enforcer g-guy… from before?"

"I think I would 've remembered that weird guy if he tried to pick a fight with me before all this," Tadatake butted in as he scratched his chin, "besides, if anyone ever came up all in my face and tried to attack me, I'd be like BAM!" He smashed his fist into his hand, sending an echoing crack through the air.

"And aside from whatever's coming up right in front of you, you have as much foresight as a blind puppy," Xiuying scoffed as she simply dusted off her hand.

"Surprisingly, he has a point though." Of all people Kanon came into the hockey player's defense as she warily stepped up, "I mean, considering he has the physique and training needed to take most people down, it's hard to believe someone would easily be able to capture him."

"Oh, so you're saying I'm fit then~?" Tadatake grinned and gave a small wink, "aw, now aren't you sweet-!"

"I'll give you two seconds to shut up." The hockey player closed his mouth immediately before Kanon could even muster up "one". Seeing this she rolled her eyes and continued, "anyway, another problem with the idea is that by that logic, Uta and Lukas should have also been able to hold their own against anyone that attacked them as well."

"It's not impossible for someone to attack us," Uta clarified, and for the briefest of moments, his eyes twitched, "anyone with a strong enough will and blade could fight if they wanted to. But they'd have to take the both of us in by force unlike the rest of you, and I know for certain in my case they would've died by my blade if we crossed paths."

"The two aren't superhuman, but I've seen my fair share of fighters," Albion expressed, crossing his arms tightly, "and with a talent like Grand Swordsman and Grand Knight, a simple face-to-face showdown wouldn't cut it. They'd have to do something extreme like bring out that enforcer, and I'm pretty sure they'd remember seeing him, at least if he still looked as ugly as he did now." He added with a smirk.

"Is it possible some sort of gas knocked us out then?" Lukas suggested, flexing his metal gauntlets as he spoke, "or perhaps a sort of drug that caught us off our gaurd?"

Machi thought briefly before sighing, "hm... maybe, but for me, it's kinda the same issue where… I feel like I'd remember that! I mean- I was in a safe place when reading my acceptance letter. And I'm talking about like- literally at my home."

"That would rule out possible drug injection as well," Jun voiced as he lightly stepped forward, "as far as I can tell, none of us have any needle marks or anything that could hint at a syringe being used, and if most of us were in the comfort of our own home or another safe place when reading our letters, that makes things even harder for our kidnappers."

"That is a good point," Anata agreed, "depending on our location, it'd be hard for anyone to kidnap us." She hummed quietly to herself before suddenly saying, "maybe if we all tell each other exactly what we remember before blacking out… we'll possibly figure out something."

One by one, everyone heeded Anata's advice and recounted exactly how they blacked out. Every account was slightly different in the time and place, but they all had one thing in common. After they read their acceptance letters for Grandview, everyone blacked out, and woke up in this place as if no time passed for them. One second they were living their daily lives, and the next… they were strapped with watches, attacked by a mysterious samurai, and trapped here among other Grand Students.

And yet… no matter how hard Prince tried to recall anything… nothing similar ever came up. There was no acceptance letter. No supposed orientation or entrance ceremony to get excited for. No friends or family around him. He just awoke in a cold empty room, completely unknown to his own pat. He almost began to shake thinking about it, especially as everyone finished their accounts, and all eyes landed on him.

"In my case… I… I just woke up h-here…" Prince explained, "but I-I never got a letter. I never even knew about G-Grandview… well… I d-didn't-" He struggled to find any kind of words that could save him in the moment, because how could even lie about a world he didn't know?

Such a hesitant account was met with a narrowed eye Kanon, "so… you're still pulling the amnesia card? How incredibly suspicious…"

"I-I'm not trying to pull anything, I-I promise…" Prince attempted to reassure, though his beating heart betrayed that notion, "I… I swear I'm trying to remember… but… e-everytime I do, it all ends u-up blank and-" He couldn't speak any further. He just couldn't.

"Come on now guys, let's not do this!" Machi stepped up in defense, "Prince is in the same boat as us. None of us can remember how we got here either, and even if he can't remember anything else, we should be focusing on the person who brought us here instead! So why don't we just… cut each other a little bit of slack for now, eh?"

No one said a word in response to Machi's argument, but he could tell the group's perception of him had undoubtedly shifted from indifference to quiet suspicion, and there was nothing he could really do to change that. The thought alone was enough to make his nerves choke and look down to his feet, attempting to breathe as his blood turned ice cold.

"S-Sorry… I… I really wish I could remember something," Prince apologized, "but t-there's just… nothing I can think of that'd h-help me out…."

"Brother Prince, please do not fret." Like a soothing river, Amaya's voice flowed out behind him as she gently took his hand, "Sister Machi is right, we've all been set on the same stage since the very start, and that includes you as well dear, regardless of anemia or lack thereof," Amaya calmly pointed out, nodding her head softly in agreement, "so please know there is no need for fear. We will all help you however we can, and as long as we uncover the information necessary, everything will turn out well in the end, I'm sure of it!"

Her words slowly brought Prince to his senses, and with a small nod, he allowed himself to believe in that possibility, "r-right… of course. We just have to find out what's happening through a-another way."

"So… that was a dead end…?" Prince turned to find Hania silently muttering to herself, "that discussion… didn't reveal anything for us."

"What a total waste of time," Xiuying scoffed, "now where are we supposed to know what's happening to us?"

"Well… I've been thinking…" Prince racked his head for the answer he was looking for, "the only way t-that we'd get any information for sure about all this… is during the Coronation itself."

"That shady event…? I dunno…" Fudo muttered quietly as he adjusted his scarf, "if these guys are trying so hard to get us to attend it, it must be pretty bad…"

Everyone was silent to Prince's suggestion, indicating a layer of mistrust in the whole idea before Koji suddenly stepped up, "it really is the only course of action we can take here. There's no way to leave this place, and we definitely can't fight back. If we want to learn anything, we'd have to wait for that, just like… Prince said…"

"That seems to be true considering that's what the note told us earlier," Jun agreed, pointing his finger expectedly, "it'll most likely start once everyone is present in the foyer. But we're still missing a few people."

"The last three… hmmmm," Fudo began to think, his expression growing somewhat concerned, "it's gotta be pink flamingo girl then… or well…. her actual name is Amelie…" He quickly corrected it, "annnnnnd I have no clue who the other two are."

"Hagoromo and Stefano…" Prince immediately said, his worry rising over the three. Just where could they be?

"If it's just down to those three… I'm pretty sure they ended up hiding somewhere," Anata theorized, "especially if they saw the enforcer first before anything else. But if that's the case… we have no idea when they'll show up.

"I think we're about to find out…" Aimi suddenly took a few steps back, standing close to Tadatake as she pointed toward the barrier that was keeping them trapped.

Or rather- she was pointing at the lack of a barrier. It had suddenly vanished, and left the gaping corridor open for all to see. At first, Prince didn't see anything but darkness within the corridor. But then came the dreaded booming sound that forced his heart to stop in realization of what the Patissier was suggesting.

"Everyone, get behind me," Lukas urged, placing himself in front of the group as a large figure suddenly made their way out with a mad laughter

Each chuckle sent a shot of pain crawling up Prince's body, as the sound grew louder and louder, crawling its way out into the foyer before revealing…

"WOOOOHOOOOO!" Sprinting out of the corridor with a cheerful bounce to her step was none other than Hagoromo Mae, who raised her hands up in triumph, "I win! I win! Looks like I win! Oh ho~ You have to be waaay faster than that to catch up with me doll~"

"H-Hagoromo-!" Prince blurted out in relief, "thank god you're o-okay…" She didn't appear harmed or even winded from her little run at all. Instead, she called out to someone behind her in a playful tone.

"'Thank god I'm okay-?'" Hagoromo repeated, her eyes lighting up as she began widely laughing, "oh ho ho ho, my dear little doll~ How considerate of you! Although why you would ever thank god over something like that is beyond me!" She joked, most likely referring to her talent.

"So you're Hagoromo…" Uta grumbled, his eyes growing tired, "my god… you don't shut up…"

"You're not the first one to tell me that doll, and you certainly won't be the last I bet~" Hagoromo revealed with a passing laugh, "although I'm loving the cape you got! Care to trade? How about it-? I tell you the truth and secrets behind demons, and I get your super cool cloak! "

"W-Wait, so she was the one making that stomping noise?!" Fudo asked, "is I-it because she's super tall? Is that why I barely can make a sound when I'm running anywhere-?" The magician cried in heartbreak, which made sense for the poor kid considering his height. It probably didn't help that he was right next to Luna and Lukas as well, who also reached around the demonologist's astoundingly tall height

"Stomping noise?" Hagoromo leaned down to Fudo level, arms casually laid over her knees, "stomping noise… stomping noise… now what do you mean by that? Are you possibly referring to… wait- Oh ho-!" She jumped up an grinned, "you're talking about the enforcer~! He's a bit behind me, but don't worry though, I was able to shake him with my speed!"

"What-?!" Koji shouted, his eyes growing wide, "you ran away from the enforcer of this place! You could get us all killed for disobeying him!"

"But I'm at the foyer aren't I~?" Hagoromo questioned innocently, "that's all that was required of me, I didn't do anything wrong. I just skipped past that big ol' bugger when he wasn't looking-! Although it looks like some of you weren't as lucky." She looked at Prince and Lukas while adjusting her glasses, "now what sort of trouble did you guys get into while I was away~?"

Prince felt half tempted to answer her, but he was quickly interrupted with someone also rushing out into the foyer, "MOMO! Don't you ever, and I mean ever run off like that again!" Stefano Alexeev called out, attempting to keep a calm composure but failing miserably. His blond hair was wildly unkempt from running, and he was having trouble smoothing out the wrinkles in his hat. "You have no idea what could've happened if that enforcer caught up to you-! And I barely could keep up!"

"Oh my, are you alright dear?" Amaya immediately went up and held out a hand for Stefano to take, "please, you must sit down and rest. You're far too tired to stand!"

"It's fine… I'm okay, thank you," Stefano reassured as he stared calmly at the demonologist, "I just can't believe you would run off like that, you could've seriously been hurt considering the people we're dealing with here," he calmly continued, "please promise me you'll never do something like again, okay?"

"Aw Alex~! With such sincerity, I'll have to promise-!" Hagoromo joked, as she leaned from side to side, "but hey-! Look at it this way, all that running was great exercise don't you think! I mean, lord knows you definitely need it~" She smiled.

"Momo…" Stefano warned, but this time, an actual booming noise sounded behind him, and it was enough to make the exorcist rush over to the demonologist's side, "nevermind, just forget about it. We have bigger problems right now anyway-!"

Prince quickly found Stefano was right on the money with his statement as the floor cracked just a bit, rumbling up and down as something in the corridor approached .

"I-It's…" He choked on his words, unable to say what he knew was true in face of such overwhelming darkness entering the foyer. The once glimmering orange glow from the windows vanished, and the lights above flickered in fear until finally...

The Enforcer entered the foyer.

"It's the demon…" Stefano muttered under his breath, his gaze hardening.

"We can all see that sherlock!" Xiuying clutched her dress and backed away a few paces, her face stressed.

The samurai took a few steps into the room, and suddenly locked onto the group with a deadly look. The sockets of his skull darkened, his fists shook. Prince was sure then he was going to attack them- had it not been for the person he was directing all that anger toward.

"Yoooohooooo~! Ohhhh Enforceeerrrr~!" Hagoromo called out to the samurai,"you finally arrived slowpoke! It was so fun to race you that I just gotta ask if you wanna go again sometime! Don't worry, I'll let you have a head start if we ever decide a time and date!" She said playfully, her eyes squinting with glee at the sight of his sour face "All you gotta do is let me know beforehand, okay?!"

"MOMO-!" But Stefano's words were cut short but a sudden huff from the samurai, whose jagged mouth twisted into an exhausted frown.

"Looks ya made it…" he shook his head and began tugging something in from behind, "ya only beat me cause I was dealing with little miss princess over here…"

"Little miss… princess?" Machi questioned. But before anyone could answer her, an assortment of cures spewed out from behind the samurai.

"Get your grubby hands off me you vermine dégoûtante! At this rate, you'll break my arm off! What do you think you're doing!?" To no one's surprise, the individual the samurai was struggling with turned out to be Amelie Alarie, the very last person remaining from the group. Her expression was twisted into an enraged look as she punched and kicked the samurai's legs, "tu ne m'as pas entendu?!" She screamed loudly, "I ordered you to stop at once you rabid, sad little-!"

"If don't shut up and start movin' right now, I'll THROW you into this room if I have to!" The samurai shouted back.

"And you don't two shut up either…" Uta uttered, shaking his head as he glared at the samurai and perfumer.

"B-But at least she's okay… I think…?" Prince said slowly. It was hard to tell honestly considering how overly dramatic she was acting, but she didn't seem injured to his knowledge.

"Yer little spoiled princess is fine, but if she says another damn word I swear I'm gonna lose it-!" The samurai muttered as he suddenly pulled Amelie harshly into the foyer. This caused her to stumble right into Lukas's arms, who only staggered briefly in his stance as he caught her.

"Ah-! Don't worry, I've got you, are you alright madam?" Lukas asked politely as he helped dust off the perfumer.

"Am I alright?! AM I ALRIGHT?!" Amelie shouted, turning a ferocious glare at the samurai, "he almost broke my beautiful nails while dragging me here! That manicure for these was ten times more than your lousy armor and weapons combined!" She pointed aggressively at the samurai and began marching towards him, "why! I should have you destroyed for this you- you-!"

"SAY ANOTHER WORD AND YOUR NAILS WON'T BE THE ONLY THING BROKEN ABOUT YA-!" The samurai warned through gritted teeth, his face growing red as he gripped tightly onto the handle of his Konobo.

Immediately Lukas sprung into a protective stance in front of Amelie and gripped onto his sword, although he didn't immediately unsheathe it, "that's close enough sir," he warned, the grim tone in his voice now materializing from before, "intended violence towards my classmates is something I won't tolerate under any circumstance. Stand down now, and I will do the same. If you don't, I'll be forced to attack once more."

Amelie was stunned for a moment, but then a light laugh escaped her as she boldly stood behind her new source of protection, "a-aha, that's right! If you even lay a finger on me, this gentleman right here will annihilate you! So you, monsieur, would be wise to lower your weapon-!"

In response, the samurai's grin faded into a horrid smile as he took a step toward the knight, "oh… is that so? So ya didn't learn anything from last time eh?" Well, if I gotta teach ya another lesson again, I'll gladly do so!" The samurai took a fighting stance and gestured with his weapon, "well come on then, don't act so shy warriors, let's see if ya learned anything after the last beating! I'll even let ya have the first punch to make things fair!"

Lukas said nothing in retort, but stood his ground and patiently waited for an incoming attack.

"Hey dude, if you're gonna mess with Lukas, that means you're gonna have to deal with me too!" Tadatake hollered while cracking his knuckles, "I ain't just gonna stand for your wacko bullshit while he takes all the punches this time! So come at me then dude-!" The hockey player then boldly stood beside the knight, making it clear the honorable intent of another fight as clear as day.

"Oooh! This is getting juicy~!" Hagoromo beamed as she tapped the tip of her chin, "two against one! How will it play out I wonder? Hmmm… decisions, decisions. Well… I have my bets on the samurai personally… anyone else wanna deal in?"

"No way, that samurai doesn't stand a chance this time with the two strongest guys together!" Fudo ignored the glare Uta gave him as he cheered from the sides, "come on now, you got this Mister Lukas! You go Mister Take! And um… good luck pink flamingo girl by association… I guess…"

"I didn't ask for input, you twat!" Amelie insulted. Minnie squeaked something loudly in her way, causing Amelie to cringe, "ugh! And you still haven't disposed of that petit rongeur! Keep yourself back, garçon!"

"What are those two brutes doing? They're going to get us killed!" Xiuying fumed, looking completely dumbfounded at the knight and hockey player, "this why I don't associate myself with the likes of peasants, they always speak with their fists and engage in disgusting combat!"

"Enough of this fighting Brothers, there's no need for this pointless violence!" Amaya quickly spoke up, stepping forward lightly to try and reach the trio, "I understand the situation is one fraught with stress, but we must be calm and communicate the issue outright! If we don't, this scenario will only keep repeating-!"

But Amaya would never be able to finish her words, for a whispering breeze echoed around the room, the sound dead and still as a hauntingly tall figure materialized amidst the chaos. At first glance, Prince almost thought it was Luna and Hagoromo given their height, but upon a closer inspection, he quickly realized it was a different person entirely, or to be more precise a sickly pale woman whose icy look was pointed toward the samurai.

'W-What in the world…?! Where did this woman come from?' To Prince, it seemed as if the woman appeared from the frozen breeze, and only then revealed herself in a similar manner as she floated amongst the group. 'That's… impossible… though… I barely saw her walk-in…?'

"Ah- aha- is it just me… or did I just see a lady appear out of thin air?" Tadatake questioned with a small laugh, although it seemed more out of impulse at the bizarre situation, "like… I'm talking thin- thin air-!"

Machi quickly peered forward and rubbed her eyes to prove she was seeing things correctly, "don't worry… I uh- I think I'm seeing it as well…"

"What in the-?! What's happening now?!" Koji let out, rubbing his forehead tiredly as he observed the situation, "don't we have enough problems to deal with?"

"I should be the one asking that question-!" Amelie scoffed as his sharp eyes pierced into the woman's ice-cold gaze, "this woman is getting in the way of proper justice being dealt with!"

The woman did not answer the perfumer's complaints. Instead, she simply seemed to float in between the students and samurai, acting as a sort of wall between the groups as she studied the situation at hand. The samurai and women didn't exactly look like your average everyday man. In fact, they were both abnormally tall and looked slightly eerie in appearance. But now that he could see them in more detail, that seemed to be where the similarities ended.

It was hard not to immediately observe the strange samurai's appearance first, as he was the much larger one of the duo, mainly in his size as he dominated pretty much everyone else around him. He donned a rather bulky set of samurai armor, done in black and red with worn scratches. He wore the traditional helmet, although one of the horns was broken off, and a ragged white cloth was tied around his waist. Aside from that, some modifications appeared to have been made to the armor, most notably his spiked metal gauntlets and razor-sharp metal plates that he had atop it all. Of course, though, the strangest part of his appearance though was his face, or rather… the skull he had for a face, which held a jagged mouth that looked too wide to be human. The bony sockets that his eyes would be in had tiny dots of light floating around, almost acting as pupils while the rest of the socket moved around like makeshift eyes.

It was a little unnerving to see how expressive they were in their movement, as opposed to the pale woman whose entire body was motionless. She was shorter than the samurai by a tiny bit, but even then practically dwarfed the likes of Hagoromo and Luna. Her facial features were sharp and somewhat unkind to look at, yet undoubtedly sophisticated in design. She had a soft nose and thin lips, but her eyes were covered by bandages wrapped around her face. Faded white flowers and petals of Sakura were strewn in her light blue hair, which flowed down her back like a river. Part of it was braided into a bun behind her head, with some loose braids trailing along with her hair. Her attire consisted of a glimmering silver and pale blue junihitoe that touched the very floor, with strange patterns of glowing stars on the sleeves. It danced in and out of view of the natural light, appearing to fly… as if untouched by gravity and time.

In that aspect, the two seemed like polar opposites from each other, and yet… there was a definite sense of familiarity between them, as the samurai had briefly turned his head at her in surprise and suddenly gawked "g-gah! Didya really have to pull that appearing act again Emi, ya know how I get when I don't see things coming! W-Whaddya doin' here anyway?"

"Emi…? Is that this woman's name?" Luna asked, her dull eyes focusing shortly on the woman, "why isn't she responding to that name then? Is she mute perhaps?"

"N-No she isn't-! It's just a nickname... so... just be quiet-!" The samurai groaned as he stomped his feet, "sometimes she doesn't talk- but t-that shouldn't matter for ya right now. This is between me and-"

"Enough… of this… " The very air froze as she turned back to the samurai, her voice piercing and cold, "put… an end… to this… fighting… at once. You're… going to… ruin the game… if you continue… on… this pace…"

"E-Eh?!" The samurai gasped in shock, grappling with the grip of his weapon as he struggled to appear intimidating "w-wait a second, whaddya talkin' about Emi? These little rats are breaking rules left and right, so I gotta set an example to em' don't I? I'm the Enforcer for cryin' out loud!"

"Rules…?" For the first time in a long while, Hania suddenly spoke up, her monotone voice straining out in an effort for everyone to hear, "hold on… there are rules now? This is… the first time I've… heard that…"

The comment itself was enough to make everybody stop completely in their tracks, "hey wait a sec, she's right-!" Tadatake called out loudly, turning his attention back onto the samurai, "I've been hearing you talk the talk about rules for way too long now, but you haven't even explained any dude!"

"W-Wha?" The samurai sputtered, appearing even more confused than the rest of the students, "aye, hold on right there-! Repeat what you just said to me!" He stepped forward, but there was a lack of any aggression in the steps. Rather, it seemed like he was sweating bullets now.

"That's close enough from you bête enragée," Amelie insulted as she flicked her ponytail off her shoulder, "tsk-! I can almost smell your disgusting stench from there. Come any closer and I'll have-" She paused for a moment and gripped Lukas's arms, "euh… Lukas… was it?" He nodded, and she smugly grinned in response, "ah je vois alors-! I'll have Lukas here tear you to pieces!" She tried to nudge the knight forward then, but he barely even moved an inch due to her small size.

"Please, hold on a second Madam Amelie," Lukas slowly took his hand away from his sword and politely took hold of the perfumer, "I understand your anger, but something's not right here. These rules that were just mentioned, I have not been made aware of such a thing yet."

"None of us have actually," Kanon spoke on behalf of the group, stepping forward with an annoyed look, "from what I'm hearing fright now… you've been chasing and attacking us over these so-called 'rules' we weren't even aware of. And then displayed an overly aggressive attitude that obviously would put everyone on edge and break said rules. What do you think to accomplish with that, huh? You only succeed in making yourself look like an idiot."

"H-Huuuuuuhhhhhhhh?! No, there's… there's no way ya didn't know about the rules here!" He flusteredly twisted his Konobo in hand and shouted back, "that's right… y-you're lying to me aren't ya-!? Tryin' to paint me as some kinda fool in front of Emi and the boss!" He snapped.

"N-Nooooo… please- d-don't be violent-!" Kanna pleaded as he suddenly rolled his sleeves up to reveal his wristwatch, "just… look h-here, I-I think I know what you're talking about-! O-On our wristwatches… there were multiple apps… and one of t-them was called 'rules' but… it couldn't be o-opened! S-So please don't hurt anyone!"

Prince lit up then as he quickly remembered that being the case when he first looked through the watch, "K-Kanna's right… the only apps we could access was profiles and maps… not the rules app… i-it didn't tell us anything about its function or showed us what the actual rules were!"

"Oh yeah, that's totally how I remember it too!" Machi exclaimed, "but wait… that means there were rules we were supposed to be following the whole time? But we couldn't even look them up! How were we supposed to know anything about that?"

There must've been something in the mediator's words that reached the samurai, as to Prince's surprise the creature's face dropped as he suddenly dropped his weapon, "so ya weren't even aware that you were breaking rules this WHOLE time?!"

"It's as… I thought…" The women spoke slowly again, having to make a clear effort to breathe out every single word, "they didn't.. have any context… of… the rules… in the first place. To punish… for a rule violation… then… without giving context… behind it… is unfair… to the game."

"T-Then- why didn't they just tell me-!?" He asked, clearly now in distress, "I wouldn't have wasted time tryin' to teach them a lesson if they didn't even know what the lesson was for-!"

"What kind of lesson was that supposed to be?!" Koji questioned, his eyes wide in panic, "you're telling me that if they didn't break these supposed rules you keep bringing up that you wouldn't have attacked us-?! That's insane!"

"Hey-! I'm just as lost in all this too!" The samurai confessed, "I only thought you saw those rules and just blatantly disregarded them! Especially that knight over there-" he pointed toward Lukas and grunted with displeasure "-he openly challenged the authority! I gotta make sure rule-breakers are punished for such stubborn ignorance!"

"But why in such a violent manner?" Amaya questioned, "Brother Lukas only wished to defend us, and in return, you attacked him and hurt Brother Prince in the process! It was only a natural reaction on their end, and yet you talk them down as if they're the problem!"

"I didn't mean to hurt him! He only got in the way!" He shouted back. But Amaya remained firm and stared sternly at the samurai.

"Only got in the way?" Lukas repeated, "that doesn't matter… in the end, you still harmed Sir Prince and attacked these people. I won't forgive such aggressive conduct toward the innocent I'm meant to protect."

"Yeah, can you really blame us for being a tiny bit on edge, mister?" Fudo agreed with a curt nod, "from our perspective we woke up here randomly, and then you attacked us without even explaining anything! I say an apology is in order, or at least some kind of get-well gift or something for our troubles!"

"Pardon? What about me?!" Amelie stepped up with crossed arms and stared angrily at the samurai, "I'm also expecting an apology-! And nothing as pitiful as a simple 'sorry'-! Non, I expect you to be on your knees begging for forgiveness-!"

"JUST SHADDUP ALREADY-!" Prince paled at the thundering shout from the samurai and instinctively stepped back. It was like his own body took control of him at that moment, forcing him to make the logical, right decision of not angering the samurai any further. As for whether this was a subconscious thought, Prince could only guess as the samurai glared directly at the group.

Or rather… glared directly at Lukas and Tadatake specifically, who still stood their ground in face of such a threat. Lukas's stance was poised, ready to defend while Tadatake clenched his fists tightly, ready to throw the first punch. And it wasn't just them either. Out of the corner of Prince's eyes, he could see Uta… readying himself to pull his own sword out, his cold and deadly gaze focused on the samurai.

A long, horrific stretch of silence plagued the room. Prince could only stand with worry as the groups stared down at each other. 'Emi' was still in between them, but she seemed rather focused on the other students, tilting her head slightly.

"I… apologize for the… inconvenience… regarding the rules," she breathed out, "it seems… that some things… were not set up… properly." She turned away then, her long blue hair flowing softly behind as she continued, "I will… have it so… the app will… eventually… be opened to you… after the Coronation. When it does… please review it… so this situation… doesn't repeat… itself."

Hearing this… the samurai grumbled something under his breath, and to Prince's relief, eventually, put away his weapon, "right… right... ugh, I ain't gonna let this little back and forth happen again-" he turned his attention to the knight and hockey player before chuckling "-I'll give ya this, ya two are quite persistent, and show true warrior's spirit. So I'll just let ya off with a warning this time… and the last time you tried to do this since ya didn't know the rules."

"Ha, comme je l'attendais!" Amelie laughed as she stepped gloriously out into the light, "even after all your pathetic threats, you finally grew to learn your place! It better stay that way from now on, unless you wish to face my wrath again-!"

"Keep talking and I'll fuckin' snap yer twig neck!" Amelie's smile dropped as the samurai roared a mad tone in her face, "and that goes for anybody stupid enough to try and break the rules from now on, or anybody who dares to face me, Omen, the greatest warrior and Enforcer this house has ever seen!"

Prince raised his eyebrows in surprise upon hearing the samurai's name. He actually wasn't even expecting a name at all. He assumed he would only be addressed as "The Enforcer", but it seemed both the woman and Omen did have actually identities. Or… at least made-up ones, as the name itself didn't raise any flags in his head and didn't sound like a normal name. He only really felt uneasy about Omen's title… and it seemed that was the case for everyone else as well.

"You're still going to be following that messed-up rule policy?" Fudo spoke up, appearing a tiny bit pressed at the situation, "what in the world for? We didn't even do anything wrong!"

"I know as guests we have to follow rules sometimes," Jun spoke politely, "but that's usually to keep a friendly code of ethics when visiting one's home. This type of hosting, however, isn't very pleasant at all. I would encourage a serious reconstruction of your own organization skills, as well as request a meeting with the owner of this place-"

"You will… meet the Owner… at… the Coronation…" the woman suddenly revealed. All eyes turned to her in shock as she averted her gaze away from the group.

"Wait- seriously-?" Koji asked in disbelief, "so we're actually going to meet the person who brought us here? You're not joking… right?"

"Thaaaat's correct! Bahaha-!" Omen revealed with a small chuckle, "the boss is the one who'll answer all of yer pesky little questions, so ya might as well reserve all of those for him in the meantime!"

"So you have no intention of telling us anything yourselves?" Xiuying pressed her lip together tightly, staring in anger at the duo, "these imbeciles almost got me killed because you didn't reveal your silly little rules, but now once it comes to the identity of the very Owner of this place, you hold back on informing us?"

"Like hell we'll just take that-!" Tadatake shouted, "everything you've said so far makes no damn sense! I don't care about rules, I want outta here! Where's the exit-?!"

"Psh-!" The samurai laughed, "like we'd just tell ya all that outta the blue!" He nudged the tall woman he was with jokingly who didn't respond in the slightest, "ya better just worry about yourselves from now on, cause I guarantee ya as the Enforcer of this game, ya don't wanna piss us off anymore. The boss is gonna be waiting for ya after all~"

"So it's confirmed then… you two are behind this as well, or at least… partially… behind this…" Anata narrowed her eyes, as if almost unconvinced of the matter.

"That should've been obvious the moment they started attacking us," Kanon reminded while keeping a good length away from them, "and if that wasn't enough, they've been talking about some kind of game for a while now, and everything that's been set up is in preparation for it. These so-called rules are also part of that game, and if we break them, it seems that we'll either be attacked, or killed."

"What the hell's wrong with you people?!" Albion scoffed as he glared at the two, "we didn't have any basis that you'd do that before, so we could've been killed for literally no reason at all if that was the case!"

"Exactly… we were completely clueless on this game with these so-called rules, and you still tried to harm us," Stefano agreed, his usual gentle look transforming into one of slight disgust at the two people, "surely you aren't going to use these rules as an excuse to hurt these people, right?"

"T-That isn't okay… at all-!" Aimi's eyes began to grow misty as she slightly shook in Fudo's arms, "p-please… p-please… don't hurt us… a-anymore…"

"W-Wah-?" Suddenly Omen's deadly look was wiped right off his face, as if he was struck with fear by the patissier's sudden crying, "would all of ya just stop yer whinin'! Listen, only if ya break a rule will we have some problems. But I won't just attack ya on purpose. I'd be disgusted with myself in that case!"

"Y-You promise...?" Kanna worriedly asked as he tried to comfort Aimi.

"Yeah... Yeah… cross my armor and hope to die, I swear," he spoke, "just make sure to follow em' and I won't attack ya! How's that for a promise!"

…

…

'Is he being serious-?'

At this point, Prince didn't even want to know. All that mattered now was that right in front of him were the people seemingly responsible for their predicament… and yet… he felt as if he hadn't quite grasped anything at all yet upon seeing them. If anything, even more questions filled Prince's mind.

"Excuse me! I have a question doll~!" Hagoromo cheered, leaning forward at the duo with great interest, "forgive me for jumping in like this, but there's been this little itch on my mind for a while about who the hell you're exactly supposed to be…" She pointed at the mysterious woman and grinned, "your appearance is most bizarre after all, and since your little partner in crime revealed he's the Enforcer, and we know you're not the Owner… that begs the question... who are you supposed to be-?"

"Empress… the Informer." She had spoken up so suddenly and with such clarity that Prince had almost missed her saying anything. Her name, much like Omen's, didn't reveal anything in his memory, but what she had referred to herself in role was what really caught his attention.

"Informer…?" Machi repeated, as interested as Prince was at the title, "okay now that's new… but what exactly does that mean for you? If Omen enforces rules… do you just… inform us of it? That's kinda the vibe I'm catching here right now."

"That's… all you needed… to know…" Empress simply turned her back on the group and uttered suddenly, "we cannot… reveal… anymore… at this time. The Coronation… and the game itself… will be starting… in just a moment…"

"W-Wait what-? That's all you're going to tell us-?" Prince sputtered out, "t-that's way too little information to work with-!"

"Well too bad kid-! Yer all caught up now! It's time for the big event to start!" Omen then suddenly brought out his weapon and slammed it hard onto the ground. The sheer force of the impact sent a few pieces of the floor flying into the air, and in that moment, one of the archways revealed itself to the group, leading further into the dark and cold manor. "Who's ready to get this little party started!"

"P-Pardon me-? I'm not sure I understand this all yet," Amaya stepped up, "we're going to have the Coronation right at this moment?"

Omen's eyes widened, as if surprised by the question, "that's what ya wanted right? To start the Coronation and start the game once and for all!?"

"But you still haven't explained whatever this game was yet," Lukas pointed out sternly, "how are we supposed to know what we're walking into right now?"

Empress said nothing in response, effectively cutting the conversation short as she turned around and began to float toward one of the archways. Omen however effectively broke the silence as he aggressively gestured with his weapon, "wellll? Why aren't ya bustin' a move after her? MOVE AHEAD!" His face grew dark as he made the order, and only then did a few people start moving.

"You don't have to shout… we're moving already… j-jeez…" Koji muttered, walking by quickly with a tense look on his face. He seemed even more unnerved than before.

Anata stood silently for a few moments, analyzing Omen before making her way along with the undertaker. Hania quickly made her way with them as well, keeping her eyes downcast.

"Those two… are bizarre," Luna spoke as she took a few steps to follow the group, "it seems that they were limited in exactly what they could say to us."

"Man, talk about anticlimactic…" Tadatake groaned as he crossed his arms, I thought we were gonna beat the guy… but I guess we really are gonna have to meet the Owner guy face to face…"

"Seems like it…" Jun agreed with a small nod. He looked like his usual relaxed self, but his weary eyes spoke volumes to how he really felt, "if we want to figure out what's going on… I guess we shouldn't delay…."

"My thoughts exactly," Kanon suddenly said as she walked quickly away from the rest of the group, not daring to look back at whoever followed her.

Aimi nervously clutched onto her sweater and sighed, "a-are we finally going to get a-answers about w-why we're here-? I'm… I'm s-scared…"

"It's okay to be scared Aimi!" Machi brightly reassured as she lead the way, "all of this is a lot to process, but as long as we work together we'll be okay! We just have to take it one step at a time!"

"Of c-course," Kanna agreed quickly, "t-the sooner we cooperate… t-the faster everyone else can l-leave this place…right?"

"I hope that's the case," Fudo nodded as he comforted a sleeping Minnie, "maybe this game they're talking about, isn't actually that bad-?" But the magician seemed pretty unconvinced of that notion.

Xiuying shook her head and boldly walked forward, her maroon and dark red outfit slightly fluttering behind her, "as long as you all keep away from me during this whole Coronation, we won't have any problems."

"Pareil ici!" Amelie muttered, to what Prince could best guess was an agreement to Xiuying's words, "nobody better come near me either, or else I'll make sure Lukas here strikes you down, hmph! Let's go!" The knight stared at her in confusion before being pulled away by the perfumer, seemingly accepting his fate without any effort.

Uta rolled his eyes at the comment and walked ahead silently after them.

Albion followed close behind the swordsman, entirely focused as he muttered, "let's just get this over with."

"This will be exciting!" Hagoromo beamed, "just what exactly will be revealed up ahead~!" She pulled Stefano along beside her, who seemed less than pleased at the demonologist's excitement.

Hagoromo's words echoed in Prince's heart as everyone else went up ahead. Just what would exactly be revealed to them? Thinking about it worried him slightly, but he attempted to gain his composure as he stood quietly next to Amaya, "so the Coronation… i-it's really happening."

A whirlwind of fear and curiosity enveloped his heart, both in deep conflict with one another as the pain in his body grew. On one hand, the entire situation had proved to be even stranger than he thought, to the point where he wasn't even sure if Grandview could've been behind it all anymore. But on the other hand…

"Are you nervous now Brother Prince?" Amaya leaned a tiny bit forward to meet his eyes and warmly smiled, "this is quite the predicament we have ended up in… but… please do not worry, I am certain whatever is up ahead, the Natural Deities will be watching over us!"

Prince stood silent as he considered the words, returning the smile and nodding in agreement, "right… I-I'm glad that's the case… but I mean… ah- I'm still a little unsure. We're f-finally going to get the answers we want… right? I might get an explanation… for my memories… r-right?" He spoke the words aloud in a quiet manner, but the question roared in his head like a hurricanes

Answers. Is that truly what they would get? After everything he's seen so far, he wasn't sure. Empress and Omen… and even the unknown Owner himself… radiated a wicked scent. Or at least… something close to it. We're they really going to be okay if they went along with this?

Like everything he encountered, he assumed there was more going on beneath the surface, but Amaya seemed to smile at the idea, and it was enough to silence his rampaging thoughts, "answers or no answers, as long as we face it together, I believe our strength will protect us, I'm certain of it."

'Our strength…?' Prince stood silent and breathed in deeply. She was right, as long as he pushed forward, he'd be alright. As long as he was with everyone else, they could face whatever was happening. And finally, get answers Something to discover and discuss. Answers to this place and the manor…

And hopefully of him.

Out of everything, that was what he hoped to discover most of all.

Such an answer though… was not waiting for him on the other side.

---

{Author's Note}

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Sorry, this was a long time in the making, and I did get sidetracked a lot. However im fully back into writing now, and already have the next part of the final chapter done. There, we'll finally get to start the Coronation… and everything will pan out from there…

I hope you enjoyed my portrayal of these characters, that's only why I took as long as I did to write this. I love the cast and everyone that has been submitted, so I hope my writing reflects that love! Speaking of characters, I hope you guys enjoyed Omen and Empress! They'll be the staff behind the game… so the characters will be stuck with them for a while… I wonder what your thoughts on them might be!

With that being said, there really isn't much else I can say other than sorry for the long silence again. I'm really bad at keeping times together so this time- I'm going to keep things simple. Just one update a month, and if it's not a full chapter, at least an update of some kind. I'm not sure why form they'll take, but I did want to try and be consistent from now on.

As for the music, again I've been holding off making new tracks as well, and I probably will be for a little while just so I can focus on writing only. To those that enjoyed the songs. I made before, I'll continue eventually, but right now I'm going to focus on just keeping a schedule. With that outta the way though, thank you so much for reading, and stay tuned Saturday for the second update!

Take Care

Candlefire45